Loading-machine



G. R. BENNETT.

LOADING. MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV- I, 1M8- 1,383,593, Patented July 5, 1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET I.

F'IG-1.

INVENTO R G R. BENNETT.

LOADING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. I, ma.

Patented July 5, 1921;

4- SHEETS-SHEET 2.

y G Q INVENTOR I G- R. BENNETT.

LOADING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED N 0V- l. 1918.

1,383,593. Patented uly 5, 1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3. v

F IE.4-

G. R. BENNETT.

LOADING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 1, 19m.

Patented July 5, 1921.,

4 $HEETSSHEET 4 INVENTOR j UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. BENNETT, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR To ALBERT m.

I HANAUER, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

. LOADING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 5, 1921.

7 Application filed November 1, 1918, Serial No. 260,741.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE R. BENNETT,residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvama, a citizen of the. United States, have invented ordiscovered certain new and useful Improvements in Loading-Machines, ofwhich mprovements the following is a specification.

The invention described herein relates to certain improvements inmachines for load ing material. onto cars, etc.,v the improve ment beingespecially adapted to raising material thrown down in tunnelingoperations and consists, generally stated, n the provision of aplurality of longitudinally and vertically movable fingers or shovels,each finger or shovel being provided with means for moving the materialalong the same and discharging it onto a suitable carrier, and in othernovel features hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming a .part of this specification,Figure 1 is a top plan view of a loading machine embodying theimprovements claimed herein; Fig. 2 1s a side elevation of the same;Fig. 3 1s a longitudinal section on an enlarged scale through the axisof one of the fingers; Fig. 4 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of twoadjacent fingers or shovels; Figs. 5 and 6 are side elevation and asectional view showing a preferred construction of means fortransmitting motion to the eccentr c employed for moving the fingerslongitudinally, such means embodying a safety device and contacts for asignaling circuit; Fig. 7 is a sectional detail view showing the drivingconnection to shafts of the screw conveyer carried by each finger orshovel; Figs. 8 and 9 show side and front elevations of the meansemployed for imparting verti cal movement to the fingers or shovels.

In the practice of the invention the frame 1 carrying the operatingmechanism and the fingers or shovels, is supported on bearings 3 mountedon the shafts 4 of wheels 4* which form members of what isknown as thecaterpillar traction. One of the shafts 4, preferablythe rear one, 1sdriven by a sprocket chain 5 from the shaft 6 of the electric motor 7The sprocket wheels on the shaft 4 are loosely mounted but are adaptedto be locked. to the shaft 4 by a clutch mechanism 7*. Sprocket chains 8The fingers or shovels -11-hav'e'their rear ends supported by anextension 12 of the frame of the machine, as shown in Fig. 3, butbetween this extension or ledge and the under sides of the fingers areinterposed inclined blocks 13 and rollers14= so that when the fingers orshovels are reciprocated, as hereinafter described, the rear ends of thefingers will be permitted to move down on the movement of the fingersunder the material and be raised on the reverse movement. A similarmovement is imparted tothe front portions of the fingers by means ofrollers 15 interposed between the undersides of the fingers and inclinedheads 16 loosely mounted on the shaft 17 and provided with arms 18 whichare connectedto suitable operating devices on the frame of the machine,as hereinafter described. Under normal conditions the fingers or shovelswill be bodily raised and lowered when reciprocated, by the movements ofthe rollers 14 and 15' along. the surfaces of the blocks 13 and heads16, but when it is desired to raise merely the forward ends of theshovels, the arm 18 is shifted throwing the head 16 to the left andraising the forward part of the shovels. As hereinbefore described, thearms 18 are so connected to operating mechanisms that any one or all ofthe fingers may be raised simultaneously. These shovels consist of atrough-like body portion having at their forward ends wedge shapedblocks 20, detachably secured to the end of the trough-like ortions.Within the troughs are arrange screw conveyers 21, the shafts 22 of theconveyers being made hollow and mounted on solid rods 23, which havetheir forward ends secured in the front wall of the trough. The rearends of the hollow shafts are supported in spaced bearings 24 formed onhangers 25 loosely mounted on the shaft 9, and the hollow shafts havesecured thereto at points intermediate of the bearings 24 worm wheels 26adapted to be engaged by the worms 27 on the shaft 9.

' shafts b adjuste an abnormal resistance, so that the shaft 9 .cept theobstructed conveyer, until the obmay continue to rotate and operate allex- ,jstruction is removed, whereupon the pins will again engage theholes in the shafts 22 so as tooperate all the conveyers.

The reciprocation of the shovels 1s effected by means of eccentrics 30on the shaft 31 which is adapted to be rotated by a sprocket chain.These eccentrics are operatively connected to the shaft 30 in the mannersimilar to that employed for connecting the wormwheel 24 to the hollowshaft 22, that is, by means of pins 32 passing through the hub of theeccentric and en aging at their inner ends recesses or circufardepressions in the shaft or block secured thereto. The pins are held inengagement with'these recesses by springs 33 as clearly shown in Fig. 5,and the operation of these devices will be similar to that def'scribedin relation to the worm wheel 26. The's'tems 34 of the straps 35surrounding the eccentrics, have their forward ends connected to lugs 36on the undersides of the res ective fingers as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

Iii ispreferred to employ suitable means for signaling the operator incase either the screw conveyers 21 are checked or the b points 20 oftheshovels meet with such resistance as to prevent the rotation of theeccentric 30. 'To that end, blocks 37 of insulating material arearranged on the shafts 22 and 31 in proximity to the worm wheels andeccentrics respectively, and to these blocks are secured the contactfingers 38 normally out of contact with the pins 28 and 32 but in suchproximity thereto that when t e pins are forced out they will comcolorasblue or white.

plete the. circuit through signaling means such as lamps-39. As it ispreferred that a series of lamps should be employed to indicate theconditions of the reciprocating means and the conveyer rotating meansrespectively, one. of the series is made of one color as red and theother of a contrasting I These lamps are so arranged on the frame of themachine as to 'be seen bythe operatorso that he may stop the motorin'case of either the conveyer or the reciprocating mechanism beingrendered inoperative. V

As hereinbefore stated, a lifting device consisting of the head 16andarm .18 which are made integral onewith the other, is arrangedunder-each fin er and from the arm 18 a rope 40 is exten ed to the rearof the machine. All of these ropes are connected to a drum 41 so that bythe rotation of the drum all of the fingers will be raisedsimultaneously. In order to raise the fingers independently, the one ofthe other, a series of levers 42 are arranged across the machine andhave their upper ends connected to the ropes 40. These levers may beoperated by any suitable means but preferably by fluid pressure and tothis end the lower ends of the levers 42 are flexibl connected to therods 43 of the piston in t e cylinders 44'and from the respective endsof these cylinders pipes are extended to valve mechanisms 45 arranged inconvenient proximity to the seat of the operator so that by shifting avalve-or valves, one-or more of the fingers can be raised. As the levers42 have their lower ends flexibly connected to the piston, and as theconnection from the arms 18 to the drum are flexible, it is evident thatthe fingers may be raised individually or collectively without oneoperation, interfering with the other. f

While not at all times necessary, it may be desired to employ means-forassisting the conveyers 21 in moving material up along the fin ers ontothe conveying belt 46 whichextend s from a shaft underneath the innerends of the fingers to convenient proximity to the chute whereby thecoal may be directed into cars. A suitable means for assisting theconveyer consists of an endless chain 47 passing around sprocket wheels48 mounted on a frame which has its inner end pivotally supported by ashaft 49, the latter eing driven b a sprocket chain 50 from the shaft 9as s own in-Fig. 2. A series of hooks or grapples 51 have their innerends loosely mounted on the chain so that as they are carried along bythe under part of the chain they will engage any lumps of coalprojecting above the conveyers and carry them along to the transfer beltor apron 46. In order. to raise this booster .When its use is notnecessary, a rope 53 is connected thereto and passes back-over thepulley 54 mounted on a bracket 55 and then to an operating drum 56.

I claim herein as my invention: I

1. In a loading mechanism the combination of a plurality of shovels,means for moving material along said shovels,-means for alternatelyreciprocating the shovels lontion of a plurality of shovels, means formoving material along the shovels, means for alternately reciprocatingthe shovels longitudinally, means for raising and lowering the shovels.during such reciprocation and means for carrying material away from theshovels.

4:. In a loading mechanism the combination of a plurality of shovels,conveying means arranged longitudinally of and supported by the shovels,a constantly rotating shaft for operating the conveyers, means operatingautomatically for releasing and causing the rengagement of the conveyersto the shaft, and means for carrying the I material away from theshovels.

5. In a loading mechanism, the combination of a plurality of shovels,means for conveying materialalong the shovels, a constantly rotatingshaft, means operative by the shaft for alternately reciprocating theshovels, means operating automatically for alternately effecting therelease of the reciprocating means from the shaft and reconnecting themto the shaft, and means for carrying material away from the shovels.

6. In a loading mechanism the combination of a plurality of shovels,means for alternately reciprocating the shovels, means for conveyingmaterial along the shovels, means for simultaneously raising the frontends-of the shovels and means for carrying material away from theshovels.

7. In a loading mechanism, the combination of a plurality of shovels,means for conveying material along the shovels, means for raising any ofthe shovels independent of the others, and means for carrying thematerial away from the shovels.

8. In a loading mechanism, the combination of a plurality of shovels,means for moving material along each of the shovels, means for shiftingeach of the shovels and mechanism for indicating the stoppage of one ofsaid means.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set m hand.

y GEORGE R. BENNETT.

